Cowboys’ Jones Answers ‘The Deebo Trade’ Question
FRISCO - The question must be asked.
The question does not have to be answered.
And even if the question is answered, that doesn’t mean Dallas Cowboys fans have to like it.
Shortly after Deebo Samuel made his trade request public, the Pro Bowl wide receiver “liked” a photoshopped social-media picture of himself playing in a Cowboys jersey. Understandably, that led to a lot of speculation about Samuel’s future with the San Francisco 49ers.
And, to the credit of the guys at 105.3 The Fan, it led to a carefully phrased question to Cowboys COO Stephen Jones about the team’s interest in Samuel.
“You obviously keep ur eye on anything and everything thats going on,” Jones replied. “Things have to fit in and work, but we’re always looking at where we are from a personnel standpoint and where we can get better.”
This answer is painfully vague and generic … but given the Cowboys’ general position on giving up capital (cap money and the high NFL Draft pick it would take to pull off such a deal), the fact the answer is something far short of “yes” is hardly a surprising one.
Obviously, every NFL front office is constantly in search of ways to upgrade their rosters. Or, as Stephen likes to term roster-building, “It’s a 24/7 business.”
Having accepted that, three follow-up points:
1) It is not enough to simply point out that Samuel would likely add jet fuel to the Cowboys offense under coordinator Kellen Moore (or that he would do that for most any team). More important: Dallas could make this happen. Could afford to pay him $20 million APY going forward. Could make room.
It’s just that Dallas will choose not to.
2) It is encouraging in a sense that Jones is indicating that here inside The Star, the Cowboys have taken a second to consider themselves as a potential landing spot for Samuel. (Before then rejecting the idea.)
There are no “bad ideas” - except to be “asleep at the wheel.” That would be bad.
3) There should be a sort of irony to Dallas being more attracted to this idea. To wit: The Cowboys’ ouster from the playoffs came at the hands of a 49ers team that badly “out-physicalled” Dallas.
The lead bull in that charge? The multi-purpose Deebo Samuel.las possible suitors for the South Carolina product.
“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” goes the old saying - a clever way of answering this particular question. But … that’s not our interpretation of Jones’ reply, which is far more “by rote” than it is “about Deebo.”